WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: The new Ping Scottsdale line-up of putters, which includes nine models, brings an element of game improvement to these multi-material flatsticks. Inspired by many familiar looks in the company’s long history in putter design and its current successful group of PLD Milled putters, the Scottsdale models push forgiveness with both deeper cavities and a slightly oversized shape, as well as with a resilient polymer face insert made from a material notably used in athletic shoe design.
MODELS & PRICING: $490; nine models (Blades: Anser, Anser 2D, Anser 4, B63; Mallets: Craz-E, DS72, Oslo, Prime Tyne 4, Prime Tyne C). Head weights: 345-365 grams. Lengths: 34-35 inches. Loft: 3 degrees.
3 Cool Things
1. Forgiveness. While Ping’s putter category has gained momentum through its PLD Milled models, those precision, high-end offerings aren’t where the meat of the golf market lives. More importantly, average golfers are looking for putters that are going to provide a measure of forgiveness above and beyond what’s available in a single-piece milled design. The Scottsdale line-up answers that call by offering many familiar Ping putter shapes with additional stability on off-centre impacts (moment of inertia), largely through the use of a lightweight and consistently resilient face insert. The insert is made of a polymer known as Pebax, a material Ping has used in its putters before. Along with slight changes in the depth of cavities, the lightweight insert (about 20 percent lighter compared to similar materials) helps the Scottsdale putters achieve an MOI that’s as much as 11 percent higher than similarly shaped PLD Milled versions. The overall lighter faces enabled the familiar shapes of models like the Anser, DS72 and Craz-E to get slightly larger, further increasing their stability. On most of the Scottsdale models that Pebax insert stretches across the full length of the face to further build consistent speed and initial roll.
“It has a great benefit in its ability to save mass from the face but maintain very high energy return,” said Ryan Stokke, Ping’s director of product design. “The two keys that came out in our testing were these big pillars of feel and roll, and that’s not always easy to pull together and latch those two things together. Ultimately, it was a very forgiving feel across the face. There was this idea of it feels quiet, but it’s pleasing and still has a feeling of stability. On the roll side the comments focused on how it rolls consistently.”
2. Feel. The challenge with a more resilient face material often can be feel, specifically the softer feel that average golfers increasingly favour. This iteration of Pebax features a distinctly softer durometer rating of firmness, actually measuring out softer than a typical golf ball. The face insert also features a consistently rough texture, developed through electrical discharge to further enhance its softer feel.
“We think this material gives us the best consistency of feel on impacts all around the face,” Stokke said. “Ultimately, it was a very forgiving feel across the face.”
3. Fit. It’s no surprise that the brand that made a name for itself in its earliest days for its commitment to fitting would continue to explore that space in its latest Scottsdale line-up. That naturally includes an equally diverse line-up of blades and mallets (four of each along with the ‘tweener’ DS72 mid-mallet), as well as a collection of plumber’s neck, slant neck, double bend and even a centre-shafted option (Prime Tyne C) to accommodate straight and varying degrees of arcing strokes. But Ping also modernises its fitting process through a web-based interactive app. Built upon the success of the company’s wedge-fitting app, the putter tool takes the golfer through a self-assessment that covers aiming style, size/shape, feel and weight to come up with a series of specific model recommendations.
